While the large majority of my time was spent working with researchers and businesses to meet their needs, I did have time for some original research.
From 1984 to 2008, I was Consulting Research Director at a unique private Montessori school serving preschool through junior high school. I had sole responsibility -- from creation through implementation -- for an 18-year longitudinal study to assess the effects of a Montessori education well into adulthood.
My background in psychology and education has allowed me to conduct creative and original scientific research in an exceptionally humanistic environment, focusing on the behavioral and social development of children into adults, rather than on specific teaching methods or content.
Do 12 to 15 years of Montessori education prepare a student for the "real world?" Do students with more years of Montessori education have more "Montessori-like" personalities, interests, and behaviors?
Under this umbrella is a set of more market-focused studies: What makes a family stay or leave at specific transition points (pre-school to elementary, elementary to junior high)? Can this be predicted beforehand?
Early studies were quantitative in nature (surveys, focused interviews), but later projects moved to more qualitative methods (focus groups, surveys focusing on open-ended questions).
An annotated bibliography is available for a more detailed summary of this research.
A list of my publications is also available.
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